Bean, Judge Roy (1825?-1903), was a saloonkeeper and justice of the peace on the West Texas frontier, where the Pecos River and the Rio Grande join. Judge Bean held his court at one end of the bar, and he often relied on his six-guns to keep order. He became noted for his colorful decisions and for his boast that he was the only “Law West of the Pecos.”
Bean capitalized on the building of the Southern Pacific Railroad across the unsettled, desolate parts of southwestern Texas. He set up a saloon in the end-of-track town of Langtry, where about 8,000 workers and gamblers, rustlers, and thieves congregated. Bean had a busy time as barkeeper, justice of the peace, and coroner. His version of “Law West of the Pecos” was often odd and sometimes unfair. Once he fined a corpse $40 for carrying concealed weapons.
He fell in love with a picture of the beautiful English actress, Lillie Langtry. He claimed that Langtry was named for her and called his saloon “The Jersey Lily” in her honor. Bean arranged in 1896 to have the Bob Fitzsimmons-Peter Maher prizefight held near Langtry. He was born in Mason County, Kentucky, and he died on March 16, 1903, in Langtry, Texas.
